A trade mark is a distinctive sign which indicates the origin of goods and services, usually refers to a registered trade marks
Fack Ju Göhte is the title of one of the most successful German comedy films in recent times. A EUTM application by Constantin Film Produktion GmbH for the wordmark “FACK JU GÖHTE”, mostly for merchandising products, was rejected by EUIPO for being “contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality”. On appeal, the…
Shape mark: form of a drinking bottle lacks distinctiveness in relation to perfumes A recent judgement of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court highlights the strict practice for the registration of shape marks. The court ruled that a 3D mark for perfumes cannot be entered in the trade mark register for perfumes in Class 3, since…
This case has gone through all instances in the Norwegian court system, with the Norwegian Supreme Court rendering its first decision on colour marks in December 2017. Overall, the courts find that neither purple, nor specific shades of purple, have protection as unregistered trade marks for inhalers for GlaxoSmithKline in Norway. In 1999 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)…
To ensure you don’t miss out on interesting IP law developments reported on our other IP blogs, we will, on a regular basis, provide you with an overview of the top 3 most-read posts from each of our IP law blogs. Here are the top posts from September, October and November. Top 3 Kluwer Copyright…
On the 24th of August, 2017, the Indian Supreme Court handed down an important decision concerning image and personality rights. In fact, it deemed the right to privacy as a fundamental right. It has, however, left some important questions open, in particular, the definition of personality rights giving rise to such right to privacy. Personality…
The Court of Appeal (‘CoA’) recently published its decision on the validity of two shape mark registrations for the shape of London black taxis. Unfortunately, it has not improved the position for those seeking protection for trade dress in the UK. Pure recognition of the sign is still not sufficient basis to lay claim to…
The Black Friday shopping storm 2017 will kick off soon. However, the Black Friday battle has already begun in Germany. The dispute circles around a German trade mark Black Friday, the owner of the trademark being based in Hong Kong, and its German licensee. In fact, all traces “lead to Vienna”, as media summarized the…
This is the final part of the two-part blog on estoppel which will focus on relevant case law where estoppel is essential to the result of the case. You can read the first part of the blog which deals with the theory of estoppel here. As is evident from the case law below, the establishment…
The German Football Association (DFB) owns the international mark “Deutscher Fussball-Bund” (with device) with basic registration in Germany (see image below), claiming protection for a wide variety of merchandise. The registration was notified to the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in April 2014. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property refused to protect the…
On September 21, 2017, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued another important decision on designs (joined cases C-361/15 and C-405/15). Among several other issues, possibly the most relevant concerned whether or not the product and the sector to which a design relates affect the assessment of its novelty and individual character. The case concerned…
